The Schism of '68 - Catholicism, Contraception and Humanae Vitae in Europe, 1945-1975

This volume explores the critical reactions and dissenting activism generated in the summer of 1968 when Pope Paul VI promulgated his much-anticipated and hugely divisive encyclical, Humanae Vitae, which banned the use of  'artificial contraception' by Catholics. Through comparative case studies of fourteen different European countries, it offers a wealth of new data about the lived religious beliefs and practices of ordinary people - as well as theologians interrogating 'traditional teachings' - in areas relating to love, marriage, family life, gender roles and marital intimacy. Key themes include the role of medical experts, the media, the strategies of progressive Catholic clergy and laity, and the critical part played by hugely differing Church-State relations. In demonstrating the Catholic Church's important (and overlooked) contribution to the refashioning of the sexual landscape of post-war Europe, it makes a critical intervention into a growing historiography exploring the 1960s and offers a close interrogation of one strand of religious change in this tumultuous decade.

List of contents

1. Introduction: The Summer of '68 - Beyond the Secularization Thesis; Alana Harris.- Part I: To the Barricades.- 2. Humanae Vitae, Catholic Attitudes to Birth Control in the Netherlands and Transnational Church Politics, 1930-75; Chris Dols and Maarten van den Bos.- 3. Of Human Love. Catholics Campaigning for Sexual Aggiornamento in postwar Belgium; Wannes Dupont.- 4. 'A Galileo-crisis not a Luther crisis'? English Catholics' attitudes to Contraception; Alana Harris.- Part II: Episcopal Controversies.- 5. Religion and Contraception in Comparative Perspective - Switzerland (1950-70); Caroline Rusterholz.- 6. Attempted Disobedience. Humanae Vitae in West Germany and Austria; Katharina Ebner and Maria Mesner.- Part III: Christian Science and Catholic Conservatism.- 7.The Politics of Catholic Medicine. 'The pill' and Humanae Vitae in Portugal;  Tiago Pires Marques.- 8. Humanae Vitae, Birth Control and the Forgotten History of the Catholic church in Poland Agnieszka Koscianska.- Part IV: Covering the Controversy.- 9. A Kind of Reformation in Miniature. The Paradoxical Impact of Humanae Vitae in Italy; Massimo Faggioli and Francesca Vassalle.- 10. Love in the Time of el Generalísimo: Debates about the pill in Spain before and after Humanae Vitae; Agata Ignaciuk.- 11. Reactions to the Papal encyclical Humanae Vitae: the French Conundrum; Martine Sevegrand.- Part V: Church, State and Contraception.- 12. The Best News Ireland ever got? Humanae Vitae's Reception on the Pope's Green Island; Peter Murray.- 13. Catholicism behind the Iron Curtain: Czechoslovak and Hungarian Responses to Humanae Vitae; Mary Heimann and Gábor Szegedi.- 14. Looking for Love - an Afterword; Dagmar Herzog.- Index 

About the author

Alana Harris is Lecturer in Modern British History at King’s College London, UK. She has previously published Faith in the Family: A Lived Religious History of English Catholicism, 1945-1982 (2013) and Love and Romance in Britain, 1918-1970 (with Timothy W. Jones, Palgrave, 2014).

Summary

This volume explores the critical reactions and dissenting activism generated in the summer of 1968 when Pope Paul VI promulgated his much-anticipated and hugely divisive encyclical, Humanae Vitae, which banned the use of  ‘artificial contraception’ by Catholics. Through comparative case studies of fourteen different European countries, it offers a wealth of new data about the lived religious beliefs and practices of ordinary people – as well as theologians interrogating ‘traditional teachings’ – in areas relating to love, marriage, family life, gender roles and marital intimacy. Key themes include the role of medical experts, the media, the strategies of progressive Catholic clergy and laity, and the critical part played by hugely differing Church-State relations. In demonstrating the Catholic Church’s important (and overlooked) contribution to the refashioning of the sexual landscape of post-war Europe, it makes a critical intervention into a growing historiography exploring the 1960s and offers a close interrogation of one strand of religious change in this tumultuous decade.

Additional text

“The book offers some important lessons and frameworks for a project which could work on a global scale. … this book broadens our understanding of how ‘liberal’ ideas intersected with religious beliefs at a moment of profound agitation.” (David Geiringer, British Catholic History, Vol. 34 (3), May, 2019)“A genuinely groundbreaking collection, where international and interdisciplinary new scholarship explores the relationship between Roman Catholicism and global developments in sexuality and women's reproductive rights in the `radical 1960s'. … The Schism of'68: Catholics, Contraception and `Humanae Vitae' in Europe, 1945-1975 presents a multifaceted and meticulously researched scholarly collection, and isa sophisticated contribution to our understanding of the past.” (Scriptable, rtreview.org, Issue 21, June, 2018)

Report

"The book offers some important lessons and frameworks for a project which could work on a global scale. ... this book broadens our understanding of how 'liberal' ideas intersected with religious beliefs at a moment of profound agitation." (David Geiringer, British Catholic History, Vol. 34 (3), May, 2019)

"A genuinely groundbreaking collection, where international and interdisciplinary new scholarship explores the relationship between Roman Catholicism and global developments in sexuality and women's reproductive rights in the `radical 1960s'. ... The Schism of'68: Catholics, Contraception and `Humanae Vitae' in Europe, 1945-1975 presents a multifaceted and meticulously researched scholarly collection, and isa sophisticated contribution to our understanding of the past." (Scriptable, rtreview.org, Issue 21, June, 2018)

Product details

• Assisted by: Alan Harris (Editor), Alana Harris (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2018
• EAN: 9783030099954
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3009995-4
• No. of pages: 377
• Dimensions: 149 mm x 211 mm x 23 mm
• Weight: 521 g
• Illustrations: XXI, 377 p. 5 illus.
• Series: Genders and Sexualities in History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; B, Gender Studies, Cultural History, History, Social History, Social & cultural history, History of Religion, Gender identity, Gender studies, gender groups, Civilization—History, Religion—History, Europe—History—1492-, Gender and Sexuality, History of Modern Europe